Urgent solidarity campaign: Support Stalin Pérez Borges, Venezuelan trade union and political leader hospitalised in Argentina

First published in Spanish at Aporrea. Translated by LINKS International Journal of Socialist Renewal.

Venezuelan trade union leader and political activist Stalin Pérez Borges is currently in intensive care in a hospital in Argentina due to pancreatitis. Fortunately, he has been experiencing some improvements, although his recovery process is slow and his condition is still critical. Solidarity has begun to be felt and those close to him remain expectant, with the fervent desire to see him overcome this situation.

Stalin Pérez Borges is a historic Venezuelan class-conscious trade union leader and Trotskyist political leader. Since the 1960s, he has been the organiser and guiding force for many trade unions and worker struggles in the Venezuelan state of Carabobo as well as other parts of the country. He was a founder of the National Union of Workers (Unión Nacional de Trabajadores, ÚNETE) at the beginning of the process of reorganisation or renewal of the Venezuelan workers’ movement that occurred during the Bolivarian Revolution. Subsequently, he participated in the Bolivarian Socialist Workers Centre (Central Bolivariana Socialista de Trabajadores, CBST).

At the political level, Stallin Pérez Borges was a leaders of a Trotskyist tendency within the Revolutionary Left Movement (Movimiento de Izquierda Revolucionaria, MIR), and later became a main leader of the Socialist Workers’ Party-The Spark (Partido Socialista de los Trabajadores-La Chispa, PST- La Chispa), which published a newspaper of the same name and existed until the end of the 20th century, before giving rise to other groupings in support of the Bolivarian revolution and the process led by Chávez. During this period, Stalin was a member of the national coordination of Socialist Tide (Marea Socialista) and responded positively to Chávez’s call to form the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (Partido Socialista Unido de Venezuela, PSUV). A few years after Chávez's death, he went on to form the United Socialist Chavista League (Liga Unitaria Chavista Socialista, LUCHAS), an organisation that maintains links with the Fourth International. As an author, he has written numerous articles for the website aporrea.org and runs the left-wing analysis and opinion website Insisto-Resisto.

Stalin’s health emergency took him by surprise in Argentina, where he had been for some time and from where he was shortly due to return to Venezuela. His relatives, comrades and friends are undertaking a campaign of solidarity and fundraising through donations, as Stalin does not have the resources to cover all the medical expenses arising from his situation, nor the costs of prolonging his stay in Argentina.

He is currently in the Hospital de Clínicas José de San Martín of the University of Buenos Aires. 

His friends, people with whom he has shared or shares trade union, political and international activities, and those who know his trajectory, as well as those who wish to support people like him who dedicate their lives to social causes and struggles, can help by making a contribution via Western Union to his wife Esmely Marilú Coello Coello, DNI 96.142.655. Buenos Aires Capital. Argentina.

We thank you for your solidarity and kindly ask you to report and send a copy of the receipt of your contribution, in order to keep an account of this solidarity campaign for his recovery, to the following email address: apoyostalinperez@gmail.com

Forward Stalin Pérez, we are with you for the recovery of your health!